Minimally invasive surgeries, such as laparoscopic operations, are performed with the use of surgical instruments, for example, forceps, cutting and sewing tools, which are inserted into the body of a patient via one or several trocars. Usually, two to four, in most cases three surgical instruments are used. In addition to these instruments, it is required that a visualization unit is available which allows the surgeon to observe the area of operation. Such a visualization unit always comprises a camera or an endoscope, which are also inserted into the body of the patient via a trocar. Usually such visualization is performed by means of an endoscope which represents on an external monitor image of the area of operation in 2D or 3D. Prior art has provided numerous endoscopes in which a visualization unit, for example, a camera, has been integrated in the distal end. However, an endoscope can be provided with a camera either on its distal or on its proximal end. The images obtained by means of an endoscope are represented on one or several external monitors via an image transmission system and an image processing unit. Numerous endoscopes have been described in prior art.
The camera systems or endoscopes described in prior art have the disadvantage that even if two cameras are provided for taking images of the area of operation, it is not possible for these cameras to represent simultaneously in each constellation all surgical instruments due to the varying positions of the surgical instruments and the position of the endoscope near the surgical procedure, as well as the object field angle (FoV “field of view”), wherein merely the immediate area of the surgical procedure is represented. When a surgical instrument is removed from the surgical field of view, it is no longer captured by the camera or cameras and is no longer under the visual control of the surgeon or his assistant.